Economic Change and the American Workforce. State Workforce Development for a New Economic Era. Volume I.

Jobs for the Future, Inc., West Somerville, MA.

A project examined changes in the workplace and in employment in four states that were broadly representative of the United States--Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, and Missouri. It identified common concerns and issues across the four states, including graduated awareness of the vast changes in the workplace, the ambivalence of business leaders' responses to them, and employees' confusion when confronted with them. In spite of the widespread agreement that continued economic growth required new private incentives and public structures, little genuine change was apparent. The differences among the states were found to be much more significant than their similarities. Five areas were identified as being in need of attention by state governments: recognition of the new realities of economic growth; uncertainty about the appropriateness of new responses; tailoring strategies to meet substate regional differences; lack of success in building consensus within communities on a common future; and education and training systems that function without much regard to changing economic and demographic realities. Employers and employees were not found to be responding to the realities at the speed required and on the scale necessary to make a difference. A new agenda for state action in the 1990s is described, and nine recommendations for state economic policy are outlined. (YLB)